TV's Survivorman to chase Bigfoot with Calgary believer

Survivorman's got Sasquatch — and the fact that he may live right here in Alberta — on his mind.

In fact, according to Calgary's Todd Standing, the head of research group Sylvanic, Les Stroud has been in talks with him for years on organizing a expedition to find the beast of many names but most commonly referred to as Bigfoot or Sasquatch.

Stroud is a popular Canadian TV figure known as Survivorman who's earned famed for his willingness to journey alone into remote corners of the world armed with only a video camera and keen set of survival skills.

Now, he will team up with Standing in hopes of luring out supposed colonies of unidentified primates living between Banff and Kootenay National Park as well as in northern Montana.

"It's been a hard sell on his behalf, but it's all greenlit and we're going to get it done," said Standing, who claims he's come within 65 metres of Bigfoot-like creatures and has devoted his life to validating claims the species exists.

Science Channel issued a release this month confirming it had approved a two-part series called Survivorman Stalking Sasquatch that it plans to air in early 2014.

Representatives of Stroud could not be reached for comment, but he confirmed in a radio podcast with entertainment figure Joe Rogan last year that he was working with Standing on the project, dubbing his host a "really cool gentleman."

In that same interview, Stroud claimed he'd already previously encountered a "great ape" in a remote area of Alaska, which piqued his curiosity.

Standing said the key will be for him to get the attention of the primates, who he said are dominant and keep track of all their intruders into their areas, and then draw them back to Stroud.

"I want him to come out of there saying 'Bigfoot is real, and this guy is really studying and researching them,' " Standing said.

Standing's research and that of others associated with Sylvanic already previously drew the attention of Discovery's Animal Planet show Finding Bigfoot.

In late 2011, a crew with show journeyed into the mountains near Banff and while they found no definitive evidence, they did meet a number of others claiming they'd had encounters similar to ones described by Standing.

"We have ruled out their claims, if we didn't think they were credible we wouldn't have gone," Finding Bigfoot producer Keith Hoffman told Metro shortly after filming.